


Puzzles Solved (in ways more than one)

by Katonica



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Good Peter, Happy Hogan needs a break, Iron Dad, Irondad, Marvel Universe, No Angst, Other, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Precious Peter Parker, Sassy Peter, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, spider son, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 01:45:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17152973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katonica/pseuds/Katonica
Summary: Peter has wanted the puzzle for so long, and finally, he's able to able to buy the 5,000 piece puzzle on display in that toy shop that he passes every day when walking to school."Hey, kid. Hop in, time to go to the Tower." He freezes. He had completely forgotten that May was leaving him with Tony Stark for a few weeks (she needed some 'me' time, she said. Peter was sure she just wanted to go partying with her friends, a rare occasion for her and he had encouraged her.)So now Peter has an unopened puzzle box and the question just sort of... emerges from his blabbering mouth. In front of Tony Stark.Oops.





	Puzzles Solved (in ways more than one)

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly _love_ jigsaw puzzles and if I just happen to have two geniuses that I see as a father and son... Well, who can argue with bonding time?
> 
> Merry Christmas! (And to the Irondad server, here's your gift! Hope you like it!)

 "I'm a billionaire genius with summa cum laude in MIT and a lab worth billions of dollars, and you want to solve a jigsaw puzzle with me instead."

Peter's eyes widened, horrified at the words that slipped through his mouth processed through his mind. "Well I mean, you don't have to, it was just a suggestion that I was stupid enough to make."

Tony stared at the boy, giving him an odd stare. When he had agreed to watch over Peter (and honestly he wanted to be here, to make up for the neglect he had given the boy for the past year), he had thought of the two working in the lab until the young genius had dozed off, and Tony would have to pick him up from the worktables and carry Peter to bed.

They would have long discussions over different experimental equations that he had not yet figured out, or work on fixing each other's suits and resulting in an argument of whose suit was better. He had not expected Peter to cut him off when he suggested to work on the Spiderman suit (while they were already in the workshop) and blurt out that he wanted to work on a puzzle.

Peter covered his mouth in shock, letting out a small, high-pitched screech that Tony startled at as Peter slowly slid off the chair, head in his hands, crouching down low until his face has a few inches away from the floor and his body placed in a catatonic position.

The genius was slightly confused, continuing to stare to see if the boy would have any reaction in the next few minutes.

 

_10 seconds._

 

_20 seconds._

 

_30 seconds._

 

_1 minute._

 

_2 minutes._

 

"Okay, get up. Where's the puzzle?"

"Mr. Stark, we don't have to-" Peter scrambled up, tripping while trying to grab for Tony's legs and causing both males to fall over again. Tony let out a cry of surprise as he fell forward, Peter's face smashing into Tony's shoes. "Ouch."

Without a second to spare, the billionaire stood up, turned around and crouched to hold Peter's face in his hands (if Peter liked the feeling of the coarse hands holding his face in fatherly concern, he would never admit it) to see if there was any permanent damage to his profile.

Once he confirmed that there were no wounds, Tony sighed and dropped his hands from Peter's cheeks, moving one palm to rub against his forehead. "What was that about?"

Peter stuttered quickly, a nervous habit of the boy's that Tony had learned. The genius only heard 'money', 'no time', and 'bother'. Tony held a hand out, motioning for the younger male to take a breath, which Peter followed. Honestly, Tony believed that the boy would kill for him if he had asked, but he wasn't going to test the theory. There was a reason **Instant Kill** was only to be activated after the Training Wheels Protocol was completed, which Peter had most definitely _not_ completed.

"I don't want to bother you." He must have heard wrong.

"You're going to bother me if you keep grabbing for my legs every time I try to see this puzzle that seemed to make you so flustered. So, explain the puzzle...?" Peter clammed up, the flow of words disappearing as fast as they had been pouring out of his mouth.

Tony's face dropped to a 'what the fuck, kid' face. Definitely an expression that happened a lot more often, now that Peter stayed around Tony more now. It was obvious that Peter wouldn't say anything, so it was up to him to investigate because honestly,

Tony doesn't like secrets. No, he hates them. Despises them. Will kill Captain America if he- _That_ was a thought he didn't want. "Well, if you're not going to tell me, time for Sherlock Stark to get on the case."

The words seemed to go through the boy's head until he suddenly flinched, realizing what Tony was doing and before he could make a grab for Tony's legs again which this time, Tony ran a little to avoid, and just like that, the man was out the door and hunting for the high schooler's backpack. "Mr. Stark, no!"

The strangled cry of Peter emerged from the workshop as the older man let out a cackle (that Peter could compare to an evil villain's at this point because that's what it seemed like as of right now) before sprinting to the elevator, yelling for F.R.I.D.A.Y. to shut the elevator door and go to the living quarters.

And Peter tried. He really did.

But Tony gave a mischievous wave to the boy before the elevator doors closed, making Peter groan.

It was obvious that the genius would open his backpack and see the jigsaw, which Peter had wanted to do alone because he was sure that Mr. Stark would go for his backpack, which held his precious puzzle- The doors opened.

He rushed into the small area, continuously pushing level -50 because _goddamn_ it, Tony's already gotten it but if he opened the precious plastic packaging, Peter Parker would not hesitate to punch his mentor in his perfect, white teeth.

When the elevator stopped on the correct floor, Peter rushed out as the doors opened and stared in horror at the sight in front of him: Tony Stark, the billionaire genius philanthropist, holding his precious 5,000 pieces New York skyline jigsaw puzzle.

His eyes focused on the clear plastic wrapping, checking for tears. When he found none, he let out a sigh of relief and with a large amount of petty childishness, used his enhanced movement to snatch away his treasure. Tony raised his eyebrows at Peter's protectiveness over the puzzle, obviously asking silent questions of pure curiosity.

"This cost me three-hundred dollars, so _excuse_ me if-" Tony stopped Peter's rant before it started, holding his palm up to pause the boy's words. "Three-hundred dollars, for _that_?"

Tony nearly regretted the question when Peter's eyes glowed at the prospect of answering a question (Mentally, Tony had started calling anyone who had a tendency to talk a lot a 'Peter Parker', since they would not shut up) and while hugging the box of pieces, started to explain the money issue.

"Originally, it was three hundred and fifty dollars but I'd been looking at it ever since the store owner put it up on display so one day while I was walking by to go to school, he ran out and told me if I paid him three-hundred, he'd give me the puzzle and I got really excited because he said he'd provide me with a frame and special glue to hang it on a wall if I helped him for a few months," Tony sighed and sat down, knowing it would take a while as Peter rambled, "so I helped him for a month and I helped around with small things that some neighbours were willing to pay me a bit of change for and after a year, I finally bought this!"

He gestured to the box he so lovingly cradled, smiling proudly.

Tony sighed. "Spider-Kid-"

"Spider-Man."

"Kid. If you had asked me, I could have bought it for you." Peter shook his head, not unlike a bobble-head. Tony's lips quirked up. A brand of Spider-man bobble-head dolls, nodding like how Peter often did when trying to insist on something. "Mr. Stark, this was a deal exclusive to me. I saved fifty dollars on this puzzle and that's already great, but I also got a free picture frame and puzzle glue so-"

Tony liked the kid. But he had to just put a stopper on the ever-flowing words coming out of Parker's mouth. He closed his eyes, sighing as he rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming along. He was more used to Peter's rambles... Around 8 PM. Not 3 PM. Too early. "Peter. It's not going to hurt my wallet if I do-"

"Unlike you, Mr. Stark, I can't take my money and use it on whatever I want." Tony's eyes snapped open at the young boy's sharp remark.

"I don't want to inconvenience Aunt May, who spent a bit of her personal money to buy me a tuxedo for Homecoming that I didn't even attend, so that was a waste of money. You're working on the Accords, my suit, your suit, and your business. You've also got a renewable energy resource project going on, which means you're spending on flights, staff, and impressing investors. Three-hundred dollars isn't much, but it can make a difference."

Tony knew Peter was stingy about money, but he wasn't sure how much until now. He sighed again, not sure what to make of the young man.

Tony was used to being thought of as a ridiculous man who threw his money wherever he wanted. Of course, Peter always exceeded the public's opinion of him, knowing what Tony was actually spending his money on; it was a nice turn of events. For Peter to understand the depth of why he was spending so much a month or even a year, was impressive and only made Tony appreciate the teenager in front of him more.

But in this case, he wasn't liking it. Peter was 15, not 40. But for some reason, he understood these types of information that usually bypassed most teenagers as unneeded.

"Look, I'll drop the money issue. But your puzzle on the other hand..." Peter narrowed his eyes comically at his mentor, hugging the box closer to him. "Let's go to an empty room and work on it." Almost instantly, the narrowed and suspicious eyes of Peter Parker widened to the size of quarters, the next words about to be stated by the teen choking him instead as he hacked out a surprised cough.

"You- You want to-"

"Yes."

"Ms. Potts isn't telling you through some sort of system I don't know about?" Peter looked around wildly, for any indication of a screen or speaker.

Tony's brow furrowed in confusion. "No- Why would you think that-"

"Are the Rogue Avengers here and you want to get away from them?"

"The Rogue Avengers- Is that what you people are calling them?"

"Are you being threatened by Aunt May to hang out with me? That sounds like her."

"No- Is it that hard for you to believe that I want to piece a jigsaw puzzle together with you?"

"Yes." Instead of Peter's surprised voice, it was the Irish-accented AI that Tony Stark had created that was going against him. _Right, Artificial Intelligence._ Tony scolded himself. Still could think for herself, no matter how much he programmed her to follow his rules.

"If I'm not being betrayed by my own creation, let's go. Traitor," he addressed the AI in the building, "to the gym."

If F.R.I.D.A.Y. was a physical being, her eyes would glint with a certain mischief only achievable by her, as she gave an, "Of course, sire."

 

They entered the elevator, a silence encasing the two.

Tony still remembered designing the place with his former teammates, reminiscing about the days before the rift between the two. It wasn't his fault that Steve decided to keep such a dark, terrifying secret from him. But it still hurt so much to remember how Steve had _insisted_ to have a boxing ring in the gym, and as a gift to the Black Widow, had made a ballet studio just for her.

Their eyes had glowed when they saw their personal training areas, giving Tony so much joy at the time.

But now they only reminded him of better times.

Peter saw the film slide past his mentor's eyes, but instead of speaking to distract the man, he continued to hug the box because he remembered _that_ look. He often saw it with his aunt when it was a hard day for her.

_Because how could he interrupt her when she slowly locked the door, walked over to their special box and pulled out Uncle Ben's large sweater, hugging it as she slowly sat down on the sofa, burying her head in the fabric?_

The elevator dinged and the two stepped out as the doors opened. It was a quiet room, the sound of a punching bag being attacked missing in the musty surroundings.

The air clung to them heavily, a somber feeling in the room. Tony placed his hand on Peter's back (ignoring how _bony_ the boy felt, remembering that not everyone had a large sum of money) and guided the boy to the boxing ring that stood proudly in the middle of the room.

Peter moved first, climbing up onto the ring and moving some of the ropes for Tony to step through. A silent 'thank you' passed from mentor to protege as Tony ducked his head to move into the ring.

They sat down in the boxing ring, now unused, seeing that the melee heroes had decided to run off without reading the Accords and also that they were heroes that relied on technology more, so they preferred to train in the actual training room.

When Peter opened the box, carefully removing the plastic from the cardboard and opening the box, Tony let out a low whistle as the boy dumped out the pieces. "I didn't think the pieces could look so... tiny."

The young boy looked at his mentor, a slight smile on his lips. "A _lot_ of pieces, Mr. Stark."

The older man did nothing but nod in silent agreement.

 

Tony wasn't sure why, but watching Peter carefully open a simple box that couldn't cost over five dollars was interesting, calming. It made his non-existent heart warm, and let go of his self-control, allowing his lips to curl up at the young teen in front of him.

Peter started to flip over all the pieces, showing tiny chunks of the photo on top of the box in front of them.

Tony had never put together a puzzle. So still in that 'this kid is adorable' phase, he let his words pour out like Peter often did. "I've never done a puzzle before." Peter stopped flipping the pieces, turning his face so quickly to face the older man that Tony wanted to quickly check if the boy had snapped his neck.

"Never? Like, never _ever?_ "

He awkwardly shook his head _no_. There were a few things that Tony had never done and unfortunately, Peter had to choose the one he hadn't done.

"Then flip these pieces with me. I'll teach you as we go." It was slow, but both parties could feel the tense, unforgiving aura around them recede. What was left was the innocent joy of Peter Parker and the hesitant kindness of Tony Stark.

Tony smiled again, softly. The boy started to explain what pieces to find first (“The corner and side pieces, Mr. Stark. Those the most important for your puzzle structure.”) and to put the pieces that had background colours back into the box to separate the side pieces from the middle pieces.

Then he went onto the different colours and how to sort each piece by the colour or by background and location ("Hey Pete, I think I found a corner piece." "Wow, that was fast, Mr. Stark! Put it here."), placing them in separate piles for later.

Tony had found the first corner, while Peter located the other three. ("I do a lot of puzzles, Mr. Stark. I think I'm an expert in jigsaw puzzles.")

Peter let out a little squeak, clapping his hands together as he placed each of the corners in their respective places. "Okay, now we'll start on the sides." He turned to look at his mentor, who had grabbed a piece with all sides caved in.

He frowned, snatching the piece out of his mentor's hands. "Mr. Stark, don't do the middle pieces yet. We cannot assume where the pieces are- Hey!"

Tony huffed like a child and threw another middle piece that he had taken out of the box at Peter's forehead, smacking the teen as he tried to scold the older man. "Take that back!"

"No, it's just another piece that should go somewhere near here-"

"Mr. Stark, assuming can screw up many final products!"

“I’ve done it many times for my company! It’s still going!”

“That’s because Ms. Potts cleans up your trash!”

His only response for the teen was to throw another puzzle piece at him.

"Why, you-" Peter stopped his sentence short as he leaped from his position to tackle Tony as the man threw yet another piece at Peter. "Mr. Stark!"

Tony poked the boy's side, a known weakness he had learned once when his fingers had not poked the arachnid's ribs, instead jabbing at his waist and making Peter jump out of the hospital bed.

The older man smiled mischievously, making Peter roll his eyes and throw a piece at him in retaliation.

 

It wasn't long before Rhodey came over to the gym (honestly, Tony forgot that Rhodey was more of a melee hero, even with the Iron Patriot/War Machine suit) and discovered the mentor and mentee covered in puzzle pieces, sitting in front of 4 corner pieces.

"Am I even supposed to ask, or-" Tony's eyes widened, his smile dropping suddenly as he turned to look at his best friend.

"Rhodey! I can explain-"

"So you blew me off for all these years when I invited you to solve jigsaw puzzles and you decide to do a puzzle with a child who's known you for fewer years instead." The tone was humorous, no accusatory meaning to it.

Rhodey crossed his arms, feeling a little guilty as Peter (“He's an intern, Rhodey, not my long lost son.") looked down awkwardly.

"Not that I mind. I'm just... going on the treadmill. Over there." He awkwardly walked off, feeling like he had interrupted some father-son ("If anything, it's _mentor-mentee_ bonding time, Rhodes.") bonding time. He started up the treadmill, listening and watching the two males in the boxing ring attempt to put together a jigsaw puzzle.

Tony glanced at the box again, trying to piece together the picture. His eyes caught the number displayed for all to see on the box again, startling him with the fact that he hadn't noticed before. "I'm sorry, five- _thousand_ pieces?!"

James heard the surprised screech from his best friend and slipped as he ran, trying to work with the mechanical legs that had been developed. "Hey, Tones. I'm running. Leave the screeching to the kid, suits him better." He ignored the little "Hey!" that followed.

If Rhodes had snapped a photo of the two boys, faces scrunched up as they debated where that one side piece went and sent it to Pepper Potts, there was no problem with that.

And if Pepper had looked at her phone, unlocked it expecting another document to look over, saw the photo instead and fell off her chair in surprise, there would be no issue with her driving over to the Avengers Compound to visit the boys in a few days.

Her assistant, nicknamed Queenie, coughed. “Ms. Potts, I’ll leave these here.” Pepper didn’t hear her in her excitement.

"Hold on, Queenie. I might have to cancel a few of my appointments."

"What?"

 

* * *

 

The two had managed to put together about seventy pieces of the border before Peter's stomach loudly growled and Tony called it a day. The genius proceeded to drag the younger boy to his kitchen (where F.R.I.D.A.Y. warned Tony not to rage at the toaster again for burning his toast) and sat Peter down on a barstool, opening the fridge and cracking open some eggs for Peter.

He had taken three for the boy and one for him, remembering the previous super soldier's metabolism and applying it to Peter's amount of energy and calories spent per day.

Rhodes happened to walk by, smelling the lunch that Tony was prepping for the two as he wiped away the sweat from his forehead after his workout to bring his legs back into shape. Peter was fiddling with a squishy unicorn toy that a girl had given him ("Her name is Diana- she goes to the Bronx School of Science, Mr. Stark.") when Tony cracked open the last egg, only to have a tiny yolk fall out.

He looked incredulously at the tiny sizzling yolk. "This bitch was empty." He stated, in a dead monotone before rushing to correct himself with his words, uncertain if the boy was allowed to curse.

Almost instantaneously, Peter instinctually yelled out, _"YEET!"_ and threw the unicorn at the Colonel, scaring the men and causing Rhodey to drop his towel. In Peter's vision, the squishy rainbow form flew across the room, slowly sailing midair until it hit its target, Colonel James Rhodes' cheek.

Words instantly started flowing out of Peter's mouth like a waterfall as he attempted to apologize for throwing it, "It was a famous vine before Vine got taken down, sorry Mr. Rhodes, I didn't mean to-" Peter's incoherent explanation was cut off as the two occupants of the living room heard a wheeze and turned to look at the kitchen, where Tony Stark was nowhere to be found.

Peter shot up, running around the island to find the inventor on the ground, crying tears of laughter as he attempted to breathe, clutching his chest.

The whirring of machinery drew Peter's attention back to the Colonel, who held the unicorn with a disgruntled look on his face. "Sure, laugh it up."

He threw the toy at Tony's face and walked away, the mechanical legs' sound slowly fading into the background.

 

It took a few minutes for the genius recover, and when he did, the first thing Tony did was call for F.R.I.D.A.Y. as he held the squishy unicorn, "Show me the security footage of Living Room Seven from ten minutes ago," and a hologram popped up with the footage of Tony's voice, Peter's startled throw, and Rhodey's stunned face as the unicorn attacked his face again.

Yet again, Tony Stark, billionaire genius philanthropist, was on the floor wheezing at the look on his best friend's face. "That..." He coughed, standing up. "That's going on the _web_."

It took a few moments for Peter to realize what Tony had said, glaring as harshly as he could (it was like a puppy had taken over) at his mentor. "Mr. Stark, puns are for when I don’t attack a world famous hero with a unicorn that smells like cupcakes." Tony cracked a smile at the serious tone of his protege.

Silently, he tucked the thought of the video onto the internet for when Peter became distracted.

"Mr. Stark, I think the eggs are done." Tony's eyes whipped back to the sizzling yolks, taking note of the white surrounding the yellow. He rushed back to the frying pan, using the spatula to scoop the eggs onto plates.

Peter watches the man's hands move smoothly, sliding him a plate with three eggs while Tony's own plate has one.

Peter wants to protest against the amount of food that the genius offered him, but remembers his manners _(how would May feel if he disrespected someone who had given him so much?)_. Instead, he scoops the eggs into his mouth, chewing silently. A book slides over to Peter, surprising the boy.

"You're going to study physics next year, right?" Peter nods, smiling at his mentor as he opens the text, enjoying the crack of the book spine. It wasn't often he was able to use a new textbook.

The boy didn't even notice Tony pulling up the unicorn footage and editing it into a video.

And so their lunch proceeded like that, with Peter excitedly flipping through the book and Tony editing a small film to put onto the internet later.

 

* * *

 

Tony absolutely refused to be dragged back to the gym for more puzzle-ing the next day. Sifting through five-thousand pieces for four tiny ones and then finding side pieces was exhausting; he rather not lose his vision more than he already had looking for pieces that looked barely similar to another piece.

If he were to be honest, he would prefer trying to answer the chicken or the egg question than try to piece together more than one hundred pieces a day.

Peter was staying over for a week while May was away for her 'me' time (apparently she had been putting off a fully paid vacation while she worked a few shifts more to earn money for Peter's birthday gift) and Tony had calculated that if they put together at least 715 pieces a day, they would complete the puzzle with an extra day to spare.

He promptly forced Peter to go to the lab after breakfast (with eggs that did _not_ have tiny yolks), wanting the seclusion that he would not have in the gym. Rhodey catching him being paternal... was uncomfortable.

Not that he _was_ parental, just acting parental. That's all.

Now they sat in the lab, the only sounds in the room being the whirring of DUM-E and U as Tony attempted to solve the equations that were on the _Geniuses Only_ website (most of them were a breeze), along with the bubbling sound from Peter's web experiment.

Peter looked up from his experiment suddenly, staring at the hologram that held Tony's unsolved equation. The boy let out a little scoff, choking back a laugh as he saw his mentor's frustration at the problem, "Mr. Stark, you forgot to carry the 4 to the next number." Tony jumped, staring at his equation.

"Huh. I did." The man removed his previous progress and placed the missing 4 in the equation, giving a more definite answer than the previous one.

And that's how it continued for several hours, with the one occasion of a random man wandering in with a box (“Hi, my name is Josh, and I got lost in this place, please don’t kill me. Can someone direct me to the storage room?”) and a woman holding a few papers for Tony to sign (“Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts told me to come down, yes, I’m Ashley, nice to meet you, sign here… And done!”) before the lab was nothing but the sounds of bubbling and beeping.

That is, until Peter's experimental stronger web formula blew up in his face, submerging the boy's body (luckily not his face) in the sticky solution. Tony jumped, the hammer in his hand nearly missing his foot as he dropped it in surprise.

He glanced at Peter, who looked _extremely_ uncomfortable in the solution. "Mr. Stark, a little help, please?"

Tony Stark, the man who could not be moved, _laughed._ Peter's unbelieving and begging expression, along with the _slight_ whine in his already high pitched voice broke the man for the second time that week.

This only made Peter whine, even more, complaining. "That's not very philanthropist-like of you, Mr. Stark," and "Mr. Stark, _please help me._ "

 

Eventually, Tony gave in to Peter's begging and poured the web dissolvent over the webs that surrounded the boy.

But not before snapping Peter's photo a few times, each photo showing Peter turn more and more into a blushing mess, with the boy's cheeks flushing as he heard each snapshot.

Immediately after being freed, Peter lunged for Tony's phone, only to have to be held out of reach by the older man. "Mr. Stark, give me that!" Tony only smiled as he placed the phone on a shelf that Peter could not reach because Peter was still shorter than Tony and Tony wanted to keep it that way.

Except for the fact that Peter was part-spider (something that Tony forgot a **lot** ) and simply climbed the walls to reach the phone, deleting the images that Tony captured. "Images have been archived, Boss." Peter groaned loudly at the Irish accent.

"And you are no longer deemed a traitor, thanks F.R.I.D.A.Y." The low hum of his AI confirmed his thanks and he smiled at the childish pout on the boy's face. "Cheer up, scout."

Peter, like the little child he was, stuck his tongue out at his mentor and promptly left the lab in a hurried rush, playfully slamming the door behind him.

And the night went on like that, with peace of mind and laughter that echoed through the Compound.

 

Through the little device Natasha had planted in the main living room sofa, she heard Tony Stark laughing with a younger sounding boy.

_When was the last time she ever heard Tony Stark laugh so naturally?_

 

* * *

 

"Mr. Stark, wake up! C'mon!"

 

* * *

 

"Mr. Stark?"

 

* * *

 

"That's it." Tony woke up as cold water splashed all over his body, making him shiver as his eyes cracked open and saw a grinning- correction, _smirking_ Peter Parker in a Stark Industries hoodie and sweats. It was disorienting to see his mentee who usually wore puns and jeans all the time to a boy wearing something you'd see on anyone at any time in New York.

Sitting up quickly, Tony wiped the water out of his eyes to take in the situation. He had apparently fallen asleep and Peter had to carry him to bed, which was mortifying to think about when he realized that it meant Peter was stronger - _way_ stronger - than him.

Peter did nothing but crack a smile as the facts came to Tony, and watched as Tony grumpily sat up from his soaked bed and dragged his feet to his closet, pulling out new clothing. But of course, with how petty Tony could be, the genius threw his soaked pajamas at the teen.

Peter leaped onto the ceiling, catching the clothes upside-down.

Tony glared tiredly at Peter, groaning as he massaged his forehead. "It's too early for this, Peter."

Peter only smiled (which looked _really_ weird upside-down) and walked on the ceiling (that was _terrifying_ ) until he was above him, and wrung out the clothes above Tony which did not only soak the man in freezing water _again_ but on his fresh, dry clothing too.

The man let out a shriek as he (officially) woke up, again from the chilling water.

The commotion alerted a woman who ran into the room, eyes wide as she braced herself for another disaster induced by Tony Stark again, only to see Peter holding an empty bucket and a shivering Tony, soaked to the bone.

Pepper Potts had seen a lot. She could get rid of Tony’s one-night stands with a straight face, shut down flirtatious remarks in an instant. But she had to bite her lip at the shocked expression on Peter’s face and the frustrated and peeved expression on Tony’s.

She blinked several times at the unmoving boys, then shook her head and exited the room, deciding that it would be better to wait in the living room. As she sat down on a barstool, flicking at her touchpad to pass the time.

 

Not more than 5 minutes later, the two males sprinted out of the room, Tony in clean, _non-wet_ clothes and Peter, who looked like his hair had been noogied. “So…” Tony started, leaning against the counter as casually as possible. “What brings you to the Compound today?”

 _Ah. So he was getting right to the point._ She smiled, pulling out her phone. Unknown to her, both males tensed, preparing for whatever she had pulled up. Was it another article about them being related? Another “Tony Stark is a Cougar” article?

She held out her phone for both of them to look at, and there was a photo with Tony and Peter sleeping next to a pile of puzzle pieces and a border of the puzzle forming. Tony looked at Pepper in shock, and she beamed happily back at him.

“Look at your soft side showing,” she cooed, making Peter look at the usually serious woman in awe at the condescending (i.e. mocking) tone she spoke in, at Tony Stark.

Tony nudged Peter roughly. “Stop looking at her like that. Her ego will be bigger than mine, soon.”

Peter whipped his head so fast at Tony, both adults swore they heard his neck crack and Pepper had the oddest feeling of wanting to make sure Peter was okay by sending him to the medbay, even though she knew Peter was fine. “Mr. Stark, that is _the_ Pepper Potts.” Tony blinked. “She runs a trillion dollar company, is one of the smartest women on this planet and can take care of you.”

The older man frowned. “Hang on, why is that an achievement-”

“ _Basically_ ,” Peter accented as he cut off his mentor, “Pepper Potts is a goddess and if MJ thinks so, then she is.” He turned his whole body to face Tony, grabbing the man by the shoulders. “I would _sell my organs and my soul_ to talk to Ms. Potts for a minute.”

“But you talk to me all the time, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Pepper smiled widely at their whispering in front of her, even though she could hear everything they were saying. “Well, you can talk to me without selling anything, right?”

Peter jumped at Pepper’s voice, turning to face her with the most _goddamn, adorable fucking face_ Pepper had ever seen in her life. “God, why wouldn’t Tony let me meet you earlier?” She asked, words coming to her mouth and not even processing what she says.

Pepper puts a hand to her mouth in stunned surprise. The shock of not being as worshipped as Pepper disappears from Tony’s face as he almost _wickedly_ , grinning at Pepper’s stunned face.

“So it’s happened to you too. The ‘Peter’ effect,” he stated, putting up question marks around Peter, “as I call it, makes you want to parent him for no reason besides being himself.”

Peter sputtered with an embarrassed look on his face, seeming to want to strangle his mentor but holding back.

“Mr. Stark!” Pepper smiles again, and Peter’s face turns a rosy colour. “Ms. Potts…”

She clears her throat. “Well, I’m here on a break day. Let’s go see that puzzle of yours.” Peter’s face becomes more red, Tony laughing at the boy’s flush as she walked to the elevator, pushing the button to go to the gym.

As she entered the elevator, Pepper pulled out her phone. “Hello? Ah, hi Bec. I’m going to need you to cancel all my appointments today.” She paused, listening as he spoke. “What’d you mean, am I okay?”

“I’m _not_ a workaholic, take that back!”

 

* * *

 

Pepper was thankful that she had decided to wear a jumpsuit that day because there was no way she would be able to kneel down for several hours in a pencil skirt or a dress just to work on a puzzle.

She was already sitting down on the (thankfully) clean boxing ring, reminiscing about meeting Natasha the first time, when the woman had taken down Happy with a 3-move attack.

"Incoming!” Pepper jolted out of her memory, watching Peter leap at an inhumane height over the rope and into the ring, landing with barely any sound.

Tony sprinted over, out of breath. “He’s a gymnast,” was the only explanation for Peter’s incredible skill. She let out a hum, too used to Tony's odd friends (and seemingly adopted son), her eyes skimming over what they had completed so far until they caught sight of the box with the large number displayed in bold.

Pepper inhaled sharply in surprise.

Tony let out a laugh. “Yeah, startled me too when I first saw it. But you know,” he indicated to himself and a grinning Peter, “you’ve got two geniuses here to help.”

The woman let out a laugh, her smooth voice converting what would have been a sharp bark to a happy scoff of affection. “I only see one, Tony.” The older man let out a wounded shout, pressing his hands against heart in fake agony.

“Peter, make sure my will doesn’t include Pepper.” The younger boy laughed awkwardly, unused to seeing two of his heroes act so casually, especially around him. “Sorry, Mr. Stark. Ms. Pepper is my hero too.”

Pepper felt touched, the boy’s words making her chest feel warm as she looked at what they had managed to set up already.

They had finished around three-fourths of the border, the sunset skyline barely showing in the picture.

“Well, let’s get started, shall we?”

 

The day passed by quickly, the family trio finishing the rest of the border and part of the smaller buildings on the bottom of the puzzle before caving into another puzzle war, this time Pepper and Peter against Tony who had cried out “Betrayal!” before falling out of the ring, causing the victors to quickly stand up and check if their favourite male was still alive.

Luckily, he was and he did not look happy at the two, scowling before childishly crossing his arms and turning his head away from the two standing over him while he lied on his back.

The day passed quickly, Pepper realized, as she looked at how much time had passed. It only seemed like an hour when it had actually been seven, and now they sat on the sofa of the living space of the Compound, with Peter’s head on her lap and Tony leaning against her in a peaceful rest.

She sighed in content. Why hadn’t she met Peter before?

Pepper looked at the two boys sleeping, then closed her eyes and nodded off, herself.

 _For once_ , she thought as she started to drift off, she didn't care if she was late for work or not. Work was nothing when a family came into the picture.

For once, she felt at peace.

 

* * *

 

Working at Stark Industries was an incredible opportunity for all. There was a multitude of resources and funding was never a problem for the workers there, and their boss was never around to order them what to do. Of course, they had to stick to a style of their craft for safety purposes but it was never too constraining, making S.I. a desirable workplace for engineering and college graduates.

It was a marvel for anyone to be hired there _personally_ by Tony Stark and much less of a chance that it would be any newly graduated college student.

So when graduating fresh from the California Institute of Technology, Al, Toni, and Ella, roommates who had been with each other since the first day of college, did not expect three letters to be sent to their mailbox, especially not with bright words exclaiming: _Mr. Stark’s personal Letter to the best Student in CIT!_

They had all looked at each other, then sprinted to the worn down sofa they had purchased at a yard sale to read the letters. The three letters were similar, besides their names being different for each of the three.

Toni, the more talkative one of the group read the letter aloud:

“Dear Toni, hey my girl, what’s up?” She blinked, rereading the lines before continuing. “I, Tony Stark, formally invite you to work at my company, the famous Stark Industries, if you didn’t already know.”

A few seconds had passed in stunned silence between the three as Toni continued the letter. “Anyway, pack your things because I assume that you have accepted my offer and bought an apartment building for you and your friends (who have also received this letter) for you to live in while you work at my company because [name has been censored for privacy purposes] suggested I hire younger people, whatever that means.”

Al piped up. “Hold on, T… I think there’s some text at the bottom…” Al squinted closer at the fine print. “Uh, this text has been summarized from Mr. Tony Stark’s ramblings by his assistants. Everything printed has been said in some form, by Mr. Stark.”

There had been no hesitation from either of the three as they had all arrived at the specified address the letter had stated and for two years, now, the three had been working for two years at the company as stellar engineers who were determined to find a most cost-efficient and safe way for transgender surgery.

 

* * *

 

“Uh, can I have Toni, Al, and Ella come up? Someone’s here for you.” The three engineers quickly made their way to the front of the room, thanking their boss (Emma) before heading to their destination, where they looked slightly down at Tony Stark, reading off of several notecards neatly written by what looked to be Pepper Potts’ handwriting.

The shorter man (who obviously saw the height difference, and was _not_ pleased) switched to the next notecard. “Hello, girls. Yesterday I was-” He frowned at the words, “Hey, I was not goofing off…”

He looked up and cleared his throat, “I was looking through the employee files and their projects and noticed you three have been on this project for what… Two years?”

They all tensed, worried that perhaps Tony found it to be too costly and wasteful; he was probably going to cut their funding or stop the project in general.

“I’m inviting the best project idea to my Compound for better resources for a day since the lab isn’t going to be in use… So I thought you guys could use the upgrade for today.”

The three were silent, making Tony feel extremely uncomfortable. Ella piped up. “When do we leave?”

Tony let out a quick sigh of relief, smiling at the girls again. “Right now. Pack your designs, chop chop!”

 

* * *

 

“Hey Mr. Stark, are you here? Kara said you had gone- Oh!” Tony Stark had been lecturing the three on certain pieces of equipment that were far past their level of skill when a young boy, probably younger than 15, appeared.

It was like lightning had struck in the three girls’ minds. They looked at each other, aghast. _Tony Stark has a secret child?_ The man frowned. “What’d I say about wandering into the lab again?” _Oh my god! Again?_

The boy smiled impishly. “What’d Pepper say about entering the lab,” he held out a plate, carefully decorated with what looked to be a sandwich, “without eating your lunch?”

Tony coughed. “Ah, shit. Well, girls, you know about the 3D Printer, the laser cutter, that’s it, great, now I gotta go.” And with that, Tony rushed out of the lab, chasing the boy.

Al looked at Ella. “I didn’t see that incorrectly, right?”

Ella said nothing but shook her head in stunned silence.

Quickly, Toni cleared her throat. “Well, let’s get to work.”

A few hours later, Ella stretched, wincing as she cracked her back. “I need to walk for a bit, anyone joining?” The other two gladly agreed, grabbing their IDs before they left.

Even wandering around the Compound was a great honour, especially with all the incredible technology in the building. “Hey Toni, come here!” The girl ran to her friends, who held out a phone.

 

“Hey, guys!” Toni’s face brightened.  “Clint! How is it?” The man laughed. It’s great, I can’t believe your machine worked!”

“Why, Clint, how rude. Oh, and the costs are all paid, so...” He laughed, giddy from excitement and a bit of morphine.

“You guys are literal angels. I love you all. Once I go home, free paintings for you three.” They smiled, chatting with their friend until he had to leave for post-surgery.

Quickly, they turned off the phone to avoid any repercussions (“And no, I mean _no_ phones allowed.”), hiding away in an empty room as a grumpy-looking man walked their way, angrily mentioning that an employee had not worn their badge.

“How did you get in- Oh, hello girls.” They turned around as they realized that the room was in fact, _not_ empty, occupied by Tony Stark and the young boy they had seen earlier.

 

Hurriedly, Al jumped in to speak. “We didn’t mean to bother your father-son time! We’ll be going now.” The two males blinked.

“We’re not-”

“He’s not my-”

They both paused, sighing in an exaggerated movement together. Finally, the young boy spoke. “Hi, I’m Mr. Stark’s… Intern. I’m 16, not 12 or 13 or whatever you’re assuming.” Toni coughed.

 _Ah, shit._ “I, uh… Am watching him for the week while his family is away on a business trip and he brought a puzzle. So we’re…” The man indicated to the nearly complete piece of work, only missing the Stark Tower from the New York skyline.

Ella was the first to recover from her stunned silence, smiling as she not-so-subtly shoved her friends out of the gym, noticing that they had interrupted their boss’s personal time with his… _intern._

“No more breaks.”

The other two nodded in a hesitant confirmation, not wanting to catch their boss off-guard again.

 

_Who knew Tony Stark had such a soft side for the young boy?_

 

* * *

 

Five days had passed since Peter had arrived at the Compound and they were nearly done with the puzzle, the skyline only missing the top of the Avengers Tower. Peter had been walking around when he heard the light footsteps of someone walking down the hall.

“Mr. Stark? You here?”

The footsteps stopped. Peter frowned, something tingling at the back of his neck. Quickly, the boy turned to go the other way, towards the laboratory.

The hallways became silent, the usual hum of machinery gone from the Compound eerily gone from the building. “Mr. Stark?” Peter slowly inched towards the walls, the shadows expanding, like it was trying to swallow him whole.

His pace quickened, hurrying along the strangely empty building, his anxiety peaking to a higher level as the footsteps resumed, faster, stronger, _closer._

 

Peter hadn’t realized he had started running until he felt slightly out of breath, his legs going faster and faster until he reached the familiar door that belonged to Tony Stark.

He ran into the room, looking around anxiously for the man he was so familiar with but when he found no one, Peter carefully exited the bedroom, anxious  to find his mentor, running in the halls again when out of the shadows, too quickly for his spider-sense to realize what was happening, two hands emerged and grabbed him, pinning him to the wall.

Peter let out a cry of surprise, the pain of being slammed against the wall less significant than the panic in his mind as he tried to think of who would invade Tony Stark’s work.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” The feminine voice made Peter tense, his brow furrowing in anger before he turned the tables on the one and only Black Widow.

He slipped out of her hold, bending his limbs out of proportion to duck under her outstretched arms, grab them and pin them above her, his knee against her stomach as he stared the super spy, furious.

“You have _no right_ to be here, Miss.”

The malice in the young boy’s voice startled Natasha.

Over the bugs Tony had been kind enough to leave alone, she had always heard his voice to be kind and full of humour, not the anger that brewed steadily in the tone he used on her.

“Well aren’t you the welcome party?” He pushed her against the wall, his grip starting to tighten, enough to bruise in the next several hours. “Hold on, I’ve come to talk.”

Unlike him, he _growled._ She froze in surprise, finally taking a good look at the boy she had learned to appreciate for taking care of Tony.

He was about 14, maybe 15 if she was going to stretch it. His eyes were a fiery brown, the colour you’d see on a yule log on a winter night, roasting steadily in the fireplace. His hair was slightly wild, and he was incredibly strong for the way his body looked, the baggy clothes making him easily undermined.

Slowly, the boy let out a sigh, letting her move away from the wall, still tightly holding her wrists with his hands. “You’re not going anywhere on your own. Not after that _stunt_ , you pulled on Mr. Stark.”

She shrugged, understanding. Slowly, they walked around the Compound (after the boy made her put on one of his hoodies, hiding her hair and identity easily) trying to find the older man.

He let out a sigh. “My name is Peter.” She hummed, appreciating a name to the face. “Um… I’m Mr. Stark’s personal intern.” At that, she let out a scoff.

“Hey, if you’re gonna lie to me, do it better.” He huffed, tightening his grip slightly on her.

“I am. I make sure he eats, sleep, follows Ms. Potts’ directions… But you wouldn’t know, because you took his trust and told him to shove it up his diminishing group of people he _can_ trust.”

Natasha winced. “Don’t do that. He really trusted you, he thought you would help him resolve the Accords, make them better, with your knowledge and all. And you just- Just-” He threw his hands in the air, letting her wrists go.

As she tried to bolt, he quickly (at an inhuman speed) stuck out his leg, tripping her. “No,” was all he said before continuing their trek to find Tony, holding her wrists tightly again.

Finally, they found Tony in the garage, working on a car Peter had yet to see. “Hey, kid. Who’s tha- Oh, shit.”

Tony’s face slackened with shock and surprise as Peter took off Natasha’s hood. “She’s here to see you,” Peter explained, biting his lip awkwardly at the unusually silent Tony Stark.

The older man cleared his throat, inviting the two over. “Peter, I’ll work on the puzzle with you later. Just give me a few…” Peter nodded as the man trailed off and left the ex-Avengers alone.

 

“So, you’re here.”

Natasha wasn’t used to being in awkward situations, but here she was. “I suppose.” She sat down on the table. “So I see you have yet to listen to Cap and-”

He tutted, cutting her off. “No, you don’t talk about him. I’m not over the whole ‘I lied to you for a few years about knowing your mother, the only person who cared about you was murdered by my buddy, oh yeah he happens to be insane’ thing yet.”

She grimaced. “That does put a damper on things, huh.”

 

Silence.

 

“Why don’t we go work on that puzzle?” Tony had been drinking a bottle of water when she asked, and Natasha was rewarded with a spit take on her face.

He offered her a towel, wiping his mouth in surprise. “What?”

“You know, the puzzle? The five-thousand piece one.”

“How’d you know about that-”

“It’s sorta obvious when I hear you whining about it around the entire building.”

“Ah, right.”

 

Silence in the garage again.

 

“Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y., remind me not to mope on the lounge’s sofa again.”

Natasha laughed.

 

* * *

 

Peter was already there, doing pull-ups in the gym when they walked in, Natasha in front of Tony in fear of her trying to do anything to risk the safety of the occupants.

“Hey, kid- Woah, put a shirt on!”

Peter stopped his exercises quickly, his face flushing red as Natasha simply raised an eyebrow at his antics as he stumbled around trying to put on the article. “Hey, Mr. Stark, what’s good?”

Tony said nothing but walked to the boxing ring, flinching slightly at Natasha’s remark. (“Cap never came in here, huh?”)

Peter leaped into the ring, grinning at the progress they had made over the week. He quickly turned to Natasha. “Well, are you helping or not?”

She blinked in surprise, but followed his question and entered the ring, reminiscing about the first time she had met Tony. “What do I do?”

Tony blinked, his tongue peeking out quickly to wet his lips as a buffer. “We finished most of the puzzle, we just need to finish… Avengers Tower.”

She let out a quiet ‘Oh’, kneeling down to look at the puzzle.

Slowly, they pieced together the puzzle in the gentle silence, a peace befalling the three as they bit by bit, remark by remark, put together the broken picture as well as they could, even if there were a few cracks along the fixed image.

 

“And… Done!” Peter put the last piece in, completing the A of Avengers Tower and the entire five-thousand piece puzzle. The boy grinned gleefully, rushing to get the puzzle glue and brushes, handing the ex-Avengers one each as they looked dubiously at it.

“What are we doing?” Peter had already dipped his brush into the jar when Natasha, asked and he quickly turned around, most of the doubt and mistrust gone from his eyes and replaced with mirthful happiness.

He smiled. “We’re gluing the puzzle together so I can hang this on a wall in the Compound.”

The two adults said nothing more but complied with the boy’s wishes.

As Natasha painted, she watched the two males exchange words, playful banter, and express an emotional connection none of the Avengers could ever have had with the mysterious Tony Stark.

Natasha realized as she continued to paint, that in all honesty, none of the Avengers Tony had placed his trust in had ever truly understood him at all, and that made her wonder.

 

_Was all this scheming worth it all in the end?_

 

* * *

 

“Wake up, wake up!” Tony was rolled out of bed, making the man yelp in surprise as his back collided with the floor. He grabbed the blanket, pulling it over his head.

“No," was Tony's blatant response.

He sat up quickly in pain. Peter had _kicked_ his back, irritating it more.

He let out a sound of protest, collapsing back into his covers and groaning as the boy used his super-strength to drag his out of the sheets, out of his bedroom, and into the public view as they (Peter) made their way to the gym.

“Hey, Miles.” He greeted them as they walked to the storage area, clipboard in hand and almost curiously judging their boss.

“Oh, hi Dare, love the new tie- Is that Spider-Man?”

It was like Peter was _mocking_ Tony, showing him off to all the workers in the building as he continued to drag his mentor to the gym where the puzzle awaited.  


* * *

 

“Hey, boss. The kid asked me to- Oh.” Happy stared at his extremely unhappy boss, grumbling obscure words.

Happy turned to look at Peter. “I thought you would wake him up!”

The boy shrugged. “He’s awake...ish.” Happy sighed, massaging his brow as turned away from Peter in mock annoyance.

“Let’s hang this up, where’d you want it?”

“Well, I was going to ask Mr. Stark…” Tony sat up immediately, rushing over to the puzzle that had dried overnight, gleaming in its five-thousand piece glory.

He grinned, almost childishly at the two startled males. “It’s done? It’s really done?” Peter laughed at his mentor’s excitement.

“Yeah, Mr. Stark, it’s done.”

Tony let out a whoop and cheered, excited to watch at Happy carefully placed the picture in the frame (“Huh, he gave you a nice frame.”) and take the large puzzle outside to be hung right at the entrance of the Compound.

When asked why, he simply replied, “To see what we improved,” before cackling gleefully at the new artwork.

 

“Hey.” The female voice made Tony and Peter turn their heads as they faced Aunt May, looking at the puzzle. “You finished it, then?”

Peter bounded happily to her (like a puppy) and nodded excitedly, grinning as he made jazz hands at the picture.

“I like it too, Peter.” The boy grinned, hugging his aunt before running over, hugging Tony (who let out a small sound of surprise) and thanking Happy for the assistance before running back to his guardian, waving Tony goodbye before exiting the Compound.

Tony let out a satisfied sigh, looking proudly at the puzzle that hung above him. “Hey Happy, when’d you think May will schedule another vacation?”

His friend let out a chuckle. “Knowing Peter, probably very soon.”

 

And all Tony did was smile. “Good.”

**Author's Note:**

> The author lets out a breath of relief, glad to publish another story that doesn't have her OC because it seems like people don't prefer those stories. She laughs loudly as she remembers the puzzle struggles she had with her mom too.
> 
> Yes, this story was based off real life at my home with my mother. We buy puzzles and piece them together, then frame them! It's super fun.
> 
> :D (and yes, my OC is mentioned in this story, but she doesn't play a significant part in it)
> 
> I'VE REWRITTEN THIS STORY SO MANY TIMES OVER BECAUSE I CAN'T SEEM TO REMEMBER TO SAVE MY PROGRESS AND I'VE LOST OVER TEN THOUSAND WORDS OVER THE PERIOD OF THE 6 MONTHS IT tOOK ME TO WRITE THIS (and yes, I procrastinated but this was a big project so)
> 
> Ufufufu I feel so lame other authors can do this in a week


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